The possible cause for the rapid rise in incidence of Irish paediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Xiaofa Qin, Researcher

UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA

I read with interest the article by Hope B et al recently published
online in Arch Dis Child regarding the rapid rise in incidence of Irish
paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)[1]. I just published a paper
on World Journal of Gastroenterology with a unified hypothesis regarding
the etiology of IBD, including the possible cause and mechanism of IBD as
well as the relationship between ulcerative colitis and Crohn's
disease[2]. It was suspected that dietary chemical like saccharin and
sucralose might be the main causative factors for IBD, through their
inhibition on gut bacteria and the resultant impairment in inactivation of
digestive proteases and the over digestion of the mucus layer and the
underlying gut tissue[2]. In particular, sucralose was suspected as an
important causative factor contributed to the recent worldwide increase of
IBD[2] especially most pronounced seen in children[3]. Sucralose was first
approved in Canada in 1991, followed by other countries such as in
Australia in 1993, in the United States in 1998, and by the European Union
in 2004, which was in accordance with the dramatic increases of IBD as
observed in Alberta and Quebec of Canada since early 1990s, in Brisbane of
Australia since middle 1990s, in north California of the United these
since the end of 1990s[2], and in South-Eastern Norway since middle 2000s.
Sucralose was approved in Ireland in 2003[4]. Again the remarkable
increase in pediatric IBD in Ireland since middle 2000s as shown in this
study[1] occurred shortly after the approval. Therefore, I recommend
adding sucralose as the possible culprit in future studies.